


Rituals

by Selma



Series: Scratch track [1]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Gen, Hell's Studio AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-07 15:58:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11626926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selma/pseuds/Selma
Summary: First and second impressions are made, harmful amounts of bacon soup is consumed, war is declared and no less than three summoning rituals are performed.Somewhere in between all of that they make cartoons.





	1. Not your typical Faustian deal

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by and based on the Hell's Studio AU by doodledrawsthings.tumblr.com

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Art, inspiration, piano lessons and how to deal with a demon in the workplace.

The current mood at _Joey Drew Studios_ was that of an uncomfortable family reunion right before that one aunt brought up grandma’s inheritance again. There had been an odd atmosphere ever since Joey introduced his ink machine to the studio. Now, for the last couple of days, Joey had barely stepped outside his office while Henry tried to be everywhere at once. It wasn’t official but if Joey wasn’t around, people turned to Henry.

Then there was something odd going on with the animation department. They were working as hard as ever but seemed a bit more on the edge than the rest of the studio.

All the while the ink machine kept churning out ink and dismay that trickled all the way down to the music department.

It was one big mess that she wouldn’t be able to untangle even if she gave it a try, Susie thought. The only thing she could try was to keep the music director’s spirits up which was a special kind of challenge. Susie had lost one or two good skirts to the ink but Sammy seemed to have an unfortunate talent to be right were the next pipe was about to burst.

“Hello, Sammy!”

Susie almost had to start a light jog to keep up with Sammy’s brisk walk. He glanced in her direction but showed no signs of slowing down. She’d been a bit put off by him until it became clear that he spared no one. It also helped when she discovered that as a man in a constant state of aggravation and frustration, Sammy had next to zero defenses against her unrelenting cheeriness.

“What can I do for you, Susie?"

“You told me to come around today for warm ups and coaching, but I can come back later if you’re busy?”

“No, no, we can do it now”, Sammy said.

He hurried into his office, seemingly assuming she would follow, and set his stack of notes down on his desk in an orderly pile.

“Well, I  _am_ busy but come in anyway”, he added.

“You sure know how to give a warm welcome”, Susie said, coming in to lean against the piano. “I hope I’m not bothering you too much."

“It’s not like there’s anyone else to do this with. Not that Joey ever thinks of that”, Sammy grumbled. “Let’s start with warm up.”

He seated himself at the piano while Susie started to hum her latest favorite tune. This one only made Sammy look slightly pained.

 

She was really improving, Sammy thought.

“That was alright”, was what he said but as always, Susie smiled brightly at him.

“Thanks a bunch for helping me, Sammy,” she said. “I’m sure that mother hen will sing just beautiful in the recording today. I’ve been practicing my clucks and everything.”

They were pretty good clucks too in Susie’s opinion. She gave Sammy a couple of samples. The corner of Sammy’s mouth twitched but it could’ve been a trick of the light.

“One of these days I’ll get a chuckle out of you.”

Sammy smirked.

“Well, it’s good to have goals in life, I guess. Now scram, I’ve got work to do.”

However, the good mood Susie left him in was steadily chipped away by the constant drip of ink from the ceiling. Sammy found himself staring at the slowly growing puddle of ink in the corner of the room. Every time he thought he had something there was another impossibly loud splash when the drop of ink hit the puddle.

He wasn’t going to get anything done like this. Sammy pushed himself away from his desk and headed outside.

Usually he smoked whenever and wherever but recently he’d started to slip off to the back alley behind the studio building. Just to get away from the ink or that damn pump Joey graciously installed right in his office. The back alley wasn’t exactly the scenic choice but it was good enough once the raccoon that lived there accepted his presence.

An added bonus was that he didn’t run the risk of running into Joey out there and anyone else who was thinking of taking a smoke break changed their mind when they saw him. As Sammy finished smoking and started contemplating lightening up another one before heading inside, the only person who ever bothered him out there was in fact coming out of the back door.

“Thought I might find you out here”, Henry said, looking a bit sheepish, “I don’t suppose you could… ?”

Sammy sighed and handed his cigarettes over to Henry.

“Only because you look like you need it.”

Henry took one and handed the carton back.

“Thanks, Sammy.”

“You look like a mess”, Sammy continued and lit one for himself before giving Henry the matchbox.

“ _Thanks_ , Sammy.”

Henry took a deep drag and leaned back against the brick wall. He did look like a mess. Shirt only partly tucked with ink stains here and there along with some stains with an unknown source. There were dark circles under his eyes but despite all this and his slouched posture, Henry looked energetic. He looked exhilarated and afraid at the same time.

There was definitely something going on here.

“So… “ Sammy started and then found himself staring helplessly at Henry who blinked slowly at him.

How did people do meaningless small talk again? He’d gotten lazy with it since he could dismiss even Joey with a biting remark.

“How’s it uh… going?” Sammy finally managed. He decided against tagging on a  _pal_ at the end because that would only cause suspicion.

Henry exhaled slowly before answering.

“Good?” he said, straightening his back with a groan. “Well, you know how Joey gets when he sets his mind on something.”

“Ah yes, his little project with the ink machine. When is he going to set his mind on what we’re actually supposed to do at this studio?”

Sammy looked carefully at Henry. At the mention of the machine he flinched, some of the ash falling off the cigarette and getting on his shirt.

“Oh… “, Henry got a faraway look in his eyes. “I think Joey is going to get back on track real soon."

“There’s something you’re not telling me.”

Henry busied himself with trying to get the ash off his shirt, only succeeding in rubbing it into the shirt fabric.

“It’s something about the ink machine."

“No, Sammy, it’s just that- “

“Something that got the whole animation department rattled.”

“Really- ”

“Maybe I should just ask Joey about it?”

Henry moved from the brick wall.

“Out of my way, Henry.”

“Now isn’t the best time, Sammy. Let me- ”

“No, let me tell you something. You’ve been acting strange lately and Joey hasn’t showed his face in ages. I want to know what’s going on.”

“I’m not trying to keep anything from you, we’re trying to- “

“So you’re in on whatever Joey’s cooking up?”

“No, I- “

“What’s that? “, Sammy looked over Henry’s shoulder toward the end of the alley.

“Will you let me finish?” Henry said through gritted teeth.

Sammy was almost impressed; he’d never managed to tick Henry off before. Still, he had a certain studio head to put against the wall. He pointed towards the end of the alley.

“Are those storyboards Wally is throwing in the dumpster?”

Henry’s eyes widened and he swiveled around to look where Sammy was pointing while Sammy took the opportunity to push past him, back into the studio. It said a lot about Henry’s stress levels that he actually fell for that one.

 

Sammy wasted no time getting started. Ranting at Joey Drew was basically second nature to him by now.

“Joey! What the hell do you think you’re doing? We’ve got little to no time and a ton of work while you’re distracted with God knows what. I want to know right now what this damn ink machine of yours is supposed to… “, he lost his voice mid-sentence.

Sammy felt the anger leave him and an entirely different feeling took its place. Something that made his legs go weak at the knees and his heart speed up.

“… do”, Sammy finished with a hoarse whisper.

“See? This guy gets it.”

The voice seemed to reverberate off the walls and Sammy could feel it in his teeth. Somehow he recognized it; he had heard that voice before.

“Hi, Sammy!”

Joey smiled and waved like there wasn’t a dripping ink monstrosity looming over him with teeth bared in a familiar grin. It had no eyes or maybe they were under all that ink running down its face. Eyes or no eyes, Sammy knew it was looking right at him.

Confronted by all this, Sammy did the only thing he could do.

“I’m not doing this”, he declared with a flat voice.

The inky being somehow pushed back the mass of ink covering half of its face, like lifting a veil, and a black pie-eye peeked out at Sammy.

“I’ll show myself out”, Sammy said weakly.

“Okay, bye!” Joey replied.

As he left, Sammy could hear Joey talking to whatever that thing was.

“That’s Sammy by the way, the music director.”

“Strange fella. Is he always like that?”

“Pretty much.”

As Sammy stumbled out of Joey’s office, closing the door behind him with a shaking hand, Henry caught up with him. He looked irritated until he caught sight of Sammy’s face.

“Sammy? You okay?” Henry grimaced. “I take it you’ve met Bendy?”

“That was Bendy?” Sammy said hesitantly. “You know what this cartoon is supposed to look like, right? That’s not it!”

“Oh boy”, Henry rubbed his neck. “I can explain. Sort of.”

Sammy took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“I’m going to need a drink and to think about what I’m doing with my life. In that order.”

“Uh… can I join you for that drink? I think I need it too.”

 

Sammy locked the door to his office even though Henry told him there was nothing dangerous about the thing he’d seen in Joey’s office. He gave Sammy a recap the past weeks which had apparently been leading up to demon summoning.

“According to Joey, it isn’t an exact science but he’s working on it. Bendy isn’t thrilled about his current look either.”

Henry paused for a moment.

“For a cartoon who’s just been around for a few days, he’s got a lot of opinions on how we do things at the studio. I mean, they’re good ideas and he’s been real helpful even if it was uh… a little terrifying to have him leaning over my shoulder and critiquing my work at first.”

“How can you be so calm about this?”

Henry smiled wryly at Sammy.

“You forget that I’ve known Joey for years.”

“You’re right and I’m sorry for you. Here, have another drink”, Sammy sneered and refilled Henry’s glass.

Henry accepted the music director’s sudden hospitality without complaint.

The worst part about it, in Sammy’s opinion, was how quickly the whole studio got used to Bendy. Especially after Joey finally got him looking like he was supposed to. They all accepted that the very cartoon they’d been drawing was suddenly taking charge of the animation department. Sammy was relieved that Bendy at least seemed to focus only on that part of the studio work.

Though he also insisted on sitting in on a recording as well, to get the whole picture so to speak. Sammy nearly started tearing his hair out when the band went completely nuts over having the dancing demon himself hearing them play.

“Let them have a little fun”, Norman said.

“This is isn’t a playground!” Sammy hissed, watching as the band members were practically falling over themselves to impress Bendy.

“See, you say that but you also keep calling my band all sorts of names, exactly like a playground bully.”

"I don't- "

"Last week you called them sheep."

"Only because they're a bunch of idiots!"

During a break in the recording Bendy leaned over to Sammy.

“I get the feeling you don’t like me, Sammy. Which is, you know, crazy? I’m a likable and marketable kinda guy.”

“Don’t expect me to get down on my knees and worship you like the rest of these yahoos”, Sammy snapped, glaring at the band members looking their way.

Bendy shrugged.

“Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”

He turned to Norman sitting on his other side.

“How about you, Norman? Do I give you the heebie-jeebies too?”

Norman chuckled.

“Not really. I’ve already been working with a demon for a while now.”

Bendy snickered as Sammy started to sputter.

In the end, no matter how much he despised it, Sammy didn’t have a choice but to get used to it as well. He refused, however, to get used to the ink floods that plagued his department.

With ink dripping from his hair and clothes, Sammy stomped along the now familiar path to Joey’s office. Only this time it was Bendy sitting in Joey’s usual spot.

“Where’s Joey?” Sammy demanded as he marched up to Bendy, slamming his fist on the desk for good measure.

“Hello to you too, Lawrence. Joey’s with Henry. You know, drawing and stuff. Those crazy kids, am I right?”

Sammy narrowed his eyes at Bendy who only grinned in response.

“So you’re in charge now, huh?” Sammy asked.

The grin widened a bit.

“Got a problem with that?”

Sammy snorted.

“What I got a problem with,  _boss_ , is that damn ink flooding my music department again! How am I supposed to get anything done like this? If you don’t fix it I’m going to-”

“Okay, okay! Maybe try that a little louder? Sheesh! I don’t think they heard you over in Paris.”

“Listen, you- wait, where are you going?”

Bendy stopped on his way out.

“You wanted the ink problem fixed, right? Joey’s busy but I can take look at the machine. I’m due for an ink break anyway. Animation is thirsty work.”

“You drink the ink?”

“It’s got a kick to it”, Bendy said. “Anything else on your mind?”

With his anger getting off track, Sammy straightened his tie with a huff.

“Well, the janitor keeps leaving his supplies everywhere”, he muttered.

Bendy leaned out the door and cupped a hand around his mouth.

“Hey, Wally!” Bendy shouted down the corridor.

“Yeah?”

“Stop leaving your bucket everywhere!”

“Sure thing, boss!”

Bendy grinned at Sammy.

“See? Problem solved”, Bendy said. “You keep making those marvelous melodies. Let me worry about the ink.”

 

“I’ve never seen Sammy leave my office with so little shouting,” Joey said later.

“That’s because you’re a natural at driving people insane.”

Joey beamed and clapped Bendy on the shoulder.

“Thanks!”

“No, that’s not- “ Bendy sighed. “Fine, let’s go with that.”

 

If only it had just been the ink machine that created problems at the studio. There were regular, everyday problems on top of that mess. The animators didn’t finish on time, people misplaced their work and then there were the scheduling conflicts with the voice actors.

“I’m telling you, Henry. There ain’t enough dark magic in this world, even with Joey around, to make things go smoothly at this place.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine! Why do you ask?”

“Hm… “ Henry glanced down at the inky trail behind Bendy. “Maybe you should take a break?”

“I don’t need a break. I told you I was fine. Besides, it’s not like we have time for breaks”, Bendy laughed shrilly. “Breaks are for people who aren’t walking the thin line between finishing on time and complete chaos!”

Given how concerned Henry looked and how quick he was to get him to go outside the studio despite Bendy’s reassurances that he was fine, Bendy suspected that he wasn’t a pretty sight at the moment. Henry didn’t even comment on his choice of disguise this time around.

They went to one Henry’s usual spots when he wanted a break and draw something that didn’t have anything to do with studio work.

Bendy gripped his pen tightly until Henry nudged him into to loosening his grip.

“It’s hard to believe now but Joey got pretty stressed out too", Henry said. "Back when having our own studio was just a pipe dream."

“That had to be something special”, Bendy's regular grin was beginning to find its place again.

Henry chuckled.

“Like you would not believe.”

“What did he do? I mean, it feels like I’m going nuts sometimes.”

“Well… “, Henry smiled weakly. “Joey picked up a hobby.”

“Most people wouldn’t call  _summoning rituals_  a hobby.”

“Maybe, but most people haven’t summoned a demon who turned out to be a pretty decent animation director.”

“Nice try, mister, but you won’t get any special treatment by flattering me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, boss.”

“Though Joey might have the right idea. He’s got a couple of good ones knocking around in that skull of his.”

It started soon after that excursion outside the studio. They were annoying but harmless pranks. Most of the studio didn’t mind them, especially as it soon became clear that Sammy was Bendy’s favorite target. It was beginning to become a regular occurrence in the temporary lull after a deadline had been passed.

Being pranked by a demon could’ve driven a man insane but Sammy seemed to keep a tight grip on his sanity by being in a constant state of low level rage at all times. His quite spectacular reactions to every whoopee cushion, exploding cigar and joy buzzer-incident seemed to ground him.

Still Henry didn’t think it was the best idea to antagonize the man to the degree Bendy did.

“Not again. Why do you keep doing this?” he said when he stumbled onto the ink demon lurking near Sammy’s office.

“It relaxes me”, Bendy answered with a serene smile that slowly but surely twisted into a more familiar devilish grin. “And I can’t help that Joey created me as a mischief maker. Like how you can’t help chugging down all that bacon soup.”

“Joey bought it in bulk and it was cluttering up the place”, Henry protested.

“Sure, that’s a reason.”

They were standing around a corner but with a good view of Sammy’s closed office door. Well, not the door itself as it was completely blocked with stacked phone books. Where did Bendy even get that many phone books?

“Anyway, I can’t exactly pull this stuff on you or Joey. Joey keeps complimenting me for being clever. It’s getting awkward. You on the other hand only react with the same disappointed look”, Bendy glanced up at Henry. “Yes, that’s the one right there.”

Henry could feel his brow settle in a troubled frown.

“Oh but Sammy”, Bendy looked wistfully towards the music director’s office. “It’s art, I tell you, real beautiful stuff.”

There was movement from within Sammy’s office and even if Henry couldn’t see the door opening, he could hear what sounded like Sammy trying to punch his way out. The blockade started to crumble and a few of the phone books fell down on the side Sammy was on, possibly hitting the music director because he started up a long string of profanity. There were a couple of especially imaginative curses detailing what Sammy would do to a certain someone once he got his hands on him.

Bendy wiped away a tear.

“Eat your heart out, Michelangelo.”

He then put his hands together and stretched out so he was on the tip of his toes before sinking back. He did look more relaxed now than he had in the final stretches towards the deadline.

“Glad you could join me for this, Henry, but I’ve got to shake a leg before Sammy- “

“Before I what?”

The self-satisfied grin didn’t falter even as Bendy turned around to face a deadly calm, but red in the face, Sammy.

Henry put his hands up in complete surrender.

“I had nothing to do with this!”

Sammy barely spared him a glance.

“Wow! You got out faster than I expected”, Bendy sounded impressed. “And you can move those bean poles pretty fast when you want to. I thought for sure those ears of yours would offer up enough wind resistance to give me time to get away.”

“You’re not going anywhere, you little- “ as Sammy advanced he tripped on one of Wally’s forgotten buckets filled with grayish water. It wasn’t the first time and it wouldn’t be the last. This seemed to tip him over the edge and as Sammy tried to get up again he ended up slipping on the sudsy water, falling back down with an angry yell.

“What did I tell you, Henry? Art! Sammy is a canvas upon which I must paint,” Bendy said before hightailing it.

He left a Bendy-shaped hole in the air that hurt to look at and Henry had to blink a couple of times for it to go away before he could attempt to help Sammy get back up. This only got him yelled at which was rude but not surprising. Sammy kept tripping himself up and every time it seemed to drive him further into a red fog, causing him to do it over and over again.

It was terrible and Henry couldn’t look away.

Maybe Bendy was onto something because Henry was definitely getting ideas for their next cartoon from Sammy’s wild flailing.

Eventually Joey started to feel the intensity of the pranks was becoming a problem. Mostly because Norman told him Sammy had punched a hole in a wall as a result of one of Bendy’s little masterpieces. It hadn’t been clear if had been during or after the prank itself.

“Henry told me to get a hobby,” Bendy said defensively as Joey made him sit down at the piano.

“I don’t think he meant that you should drive our music director mad. We need him relatively sane", Joey said. "Let’s try this and see how it works out?”

Bendy would continue to drag his feet and groan whenever Joey sat him down for a piano lesson, even if he started to enjoy them. It didn't stop him from needling the music director but it gave Sammy some breathing space.

This in turn spared Joey from getting yelled at and saved a lot of money on wall repairs.


	2. Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Susie tells a heartwarming story and Joey commits a murder.

Whether Norman Polk liked Sammy Lawrence or not was a complex question. The man lived and breathed music to a degree Norman could definitely relate to. His compositions were a joy to perform. Sammy always pushed himself, Norman and the band to perform their very best.

At the same time, Sammy Lawrence was also the bane of Norman’s existence. Which was why he wasn’t exactly looking forward to the delivering the latest news.

He’d found Sammy sitting in the break room for once; a couple of music sheets on the table, a cigarette hanging loosely from his lips and looking as dour as ever.

“We’ve got a problem, Sammy.”

“Imagine that.”

Would it kill the guy to smile once in a while?

Probably.

“George can’t make the next recording”, Norman continued, talking fast to get it out of the way. “In fact he’s going to be out of it for a couple of weeks.”

Sammy frowned and blew a puff of smoke in Norman’s direction in what had to be in a deliberate way.

“Who?”

For a man who complained so much about the studio and everyone in it, Sammy sure spent a lot of time there. Yet he never bothered to learn the names of some of the people that he spent the most time complaining about. Norman guessed he should be grateful that he had earned himself a promotion from being  _That guy_ to  _Norman_ in Sammy’s mind.

“Sammy, you know who George is. Tall with glasses. Looks like a surprised owl most of the time.”

Sammy slowly stubbed out the cigarette as if he hadn’t heard a word. Norman sighed.

“He plays the clarinet.”

“Oh. That guy.”

Then it seemed to hit Sammy what Norman had actually said.

“What? Why?” he demanded with furrowed brow.

“He came down with something pretty bad”, Norman explained. “Last I saw him, he could barely take the stairs without huffing like a steam engine.”

A myriad of expression flickered across Sammy’s face. All of them different shades of disapproval.

“I’m sorry, Sammy, but people get sick. It happens. You have to take it to a higher instance if you got complaints about it. I'm just the messenger.”

“Yes, well, he left us with the mess”, Sammy muttered.

It was unclear if he was more annoyed with George or with the higher instance.

“We could get someone else to step in while George is on the mend. I know some people”, Norman suggested.

“Great idea,” Sammy snapped. “Welcome to  _Joey Drew Studios_. Look out for the pipes, they can burst at any time and oh, here’s our boss. He’s an abomination!”

“Are you talking about me or Bendy?” Joey asked cheerfully, looking amused with how Sammy froze up in the same way all people do when they unexpectedly discovered someone standing right behind them.

“I heard about George. Poor man. Still, it’s a bit of a pickle for us”, Joey said, still standing right behind Sammy who for his part seemed undecided if he wanted move or try to ignore it.

Unlike Sammy, Joey was uncanny when it came to remembering names, although he didn't always remember their faces or when their deadline was supposed to be.

“I could always revise the song”, Sammy said.

“Or we could have Ruth switch to clarinet”, Norman said. “She’s been getting quite good at it.”

“Who?”

“For the love of… Ruth’s on the saxophone.”

“Right. That one. No, that won’t do. I can make some changes. We’ll have to skip the clarinet for this one. I can make it work”, Sammy said, looking resigned.

“No, you can’t do that!”

Sammy glanced behind him at Joey.

“What? You think I can’t do my job right?”

“Of course I don’t. Or I mean… I do?” Joey patted Sammy on the shoulder and then absentmindedly left his hand there while Sammy looked like he wanted to crawl out of his own skin.

“It’s just that this one is supposed to be Boris’ day in the limelight. We’ve got to have the clarinet for the soundtrack”, Joey said.

“What do you want me to do? The recording is scheduled for tomorrow”, Sammy said petulantly, swatting away Joey’s hand. “It’s not like we could grab whoever from outside the studio just like that.”

“Why not?” Joey asked in that painfully honest way of his.

Sammy looked ready to launch into a long rant so Norman hurriedly cut in.

“Thing is, Joey-" Norman started but didn’t get any further than that before there was a loud bang from outside the break room, closely followed by Wally’s panicked: “I can fix this!”

It sounded like another pipe had ruptured again.

A few seconds after that, the door to the break room was slammed open and an upset Bendy barged in.

“Can’t a guy even get a cup of ink without everything falling apart? This place is killing me!”

Bendy did look about ready to conk out.

“Sammy, I’ll need you to pick something tasteful for the funeral.”

“How about  _Happy Days Are Here Again_?” Sammy said, chin in his hand.

Joey hunched down a bit.

“I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

Bendy grabbed Joey by the collar to drag him down to his level.

“Yes, it is. This is how I die. Tell my story, Joey. More importantly, tell those dang animators of ours that I want those shots done and I wanted them done yesterday!” Bendy said in a raspy voice, the concept of personal space momentarily lost to him.

“As I was saying”, Norman cleared his throat. “I don’t think we can keep things under wraps even if we tried.”

“It’s a miracle everyone’s been keeping their mouths shut so far”, Sammy muttered.

“I see your point”, Joey said. “I’ll think of something.”

Sammy groaned. Norman sort of agreed with him.

“Come along, Ben.” Joey pushed Bendy towards the door. “Let’s see if we can’t get you that cup of ink.”

Almost immediately after they left the break room, Joey stuck his head back inside.

“Almost forgot! We should send a card to George. Remind me to sign it!” and then he was off again.

Sammy stared with a sullen expression at the door for a moment before turning to Norman.

“Who’s George and why should we send him a card?”

Norman blinked.

“Now you’re just messing with me, right?”

 

Joey made Bendy sit down at his desk while he got out a few saved bottles of ink he kept in his office for emergencies. The toon rubbed his hands over his face before taking a big gulp of ink.

“So, Sammy looked like he swallowed a whole crate of lemons”, Bendy said. “What’s got him in a snit this time?”

Joey knew he wasn’t always the best at noticing the finer details in a situation but Henry could and he’d let Joey know, in carefully chosen words, that there was something going on with Bendy. The toon wasn’t exactly talkative about it, Henry had said, but he’d been overworking more than usual. Henry thought it had something to do with the studio’s current endeavor; a cartoon that for once put more focus on Boris than Bendy.

Gotta give a little back to my pal, Bendy had said when he pitched it.

Joey knew what needed to be done.

“Don’t worry about Sammy. I’m on it.”

“Now that’s got me worried”, Bendy said snidely.

“Why’s that?”

“Joey, you’re a nice guy but you’re also a series of bad decisions.”

“I don't think I've-"

“Bacon soup”, Bendy deadpanned.

“I got it for a good bulk price,” Joey crossed his arms, “It would’ve been a waste not to buy it. Anyway, Henry seems to like it.”

“Henry has a problem. I’m thinking maybe we should stage an intervention. You know, when we’re not drowning in ink, bacon soup or work.”

“I created you”, Joey suddenly exclaimed.

“Yeah, so? Are you going anywhere with this or are we just saying random words now? If that’s the case, I’m going with xylophonist.”

“I meant, that has to count as a good decision”, Joey said and started to push Bendy towards the drawer the toon had claimed as his.

Bendy huffed, digging in his heels mostly for show but he had started smiling again.

“Come on, that’s a low blow.”

“Rest up a bit and maybe later we can take some time for another piano lesson. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“I don’t know… “

“I’ve got this”, Joey insisted. “It’s my name on the sign outside, right?”

“Are we talking about the same sign that fell down after the storm a couple of weeks ago and Wally still hasn’t gotten around to fixing?”

“That’s the one!” Joey put his hand on Bendy’s shoulder. “You can let me take care of this. You trust me, don’t you?”

“Alright, alright! Enough with the schmaltzy dialogue, we make cartoons not melodramas.”

“You won’t regret it.”

“I bet that’s what you said to Sammy when you hired him”, Bendy muttered as he pulled the blanket up to his chin.

“No, I think I said something along the lines of ‘Welcome aboard!’’”, Joey frowned. “And I think he said something like ‘We’ll see about that’. Don’t know what he meant by that.”

Bendy pulled the blanket over his head.

 

The next morning Sammy almost walked right into Susie at the entrance of the studio.

“Good morning, Sammy!” she said, charming even in the early hours.

“What are you doing here?”

“That’s a strange way to say  _Good morning, Susie_.”

Sammy sighed.

“Good morning, Susie”, he said. “But what are you doing here? You don't have anything scheduled until later today."

Susie started to walk alongside him through the corridor. She hooked her arm under his, probably because it was the only way to slow him down.

"I always wake up early and I thought I could read through some scripts in the break room before the recording”, she waved the folder she had in her hand.

“Aren't you actors supposed to sleep until noon, stay up late and drink bathtub gin until you pass out?”

"I'm afraid I'm not very good at that. Although I’m not the one to say no to a Bee’s Knee later if you’re offering”, Susie said, smiling. “Besides, you’re early too.”

“Gives me time to go through the music in my head before the recording starts”, Sammy smirked. “And I think it makes Norman uncomfortable when I’m always first at the scene.”

“Aw, Sammy!” Susie punched him lightly on the shoulder as they reached the break room.

“Norman’s a great guy”, Susie said. “Stop being so difficult with him.”

Sammy started the coffee maker.

“I’m not being difficult with him”, he said.

Susie leaned against the counter with crossed arms.

“Sammy, you've been pretending not to know any of the bands’ names. When in fact, you do."

“Every last one of them", Sammy agreed with a self-satisfied smirk.

Although he only knew them because Susie had started quizzing him on it with the promise of chocolate cake if he got all of them.

“Except the bassoonist”, Susie reminded him. “You’re not getting any cake until you do.”

She tried to scowl at Sammy but it was hard. He looked so ridiculously pleased with himself. It was nice to see him at least inching towards a smile even if it was for a bad reason. Norman really was a great guy and deserved better.

“You know, I had a cat when I was little. He was the reject of the litter so I had to nurse him all by myself,” Susie started.

“Let me guess”, Sammy’s voice rose into a falsetto. “With a little bit of love he turned into the sweetest of kittens?”

“Is that supposed to be me?” Susie laughed. “Maybe you should see a voice coach. I know a good one, even if he’s a bit of a grouch. And no, that cat scratched me up all the time and used to hide under the sofa and bite people’s feet.”

Sammy rolled his eyes.

“But you loved him anyway?”

“God no, I hated that cat”, Susie said with a shudder. “He was evil incarnate.”

“I honestly have no idea where you’re going with this story", Sammy narrowed his eyes. "I'm starting to think you're making this up as you go."

“No… “ Susie bit her lip. “I kinda lost track of where I was going with it. What I wanted to say is that you don’t have to treat every interaction like it’s a fight, Sammy. Watch me do it.”

She took the coffee pot and poured them a cup each and then with both hands she handed one of them to Sammy.

“Here you go, Sammy. Also, I value our friendship even if you’re the grouchiest man to ever walk this earth.”

Sammy took a slow sip of coffee and just looked bored until Susie started tapping her foot.

“Yes, thank you”, Sammy drawled. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

Susie threw her hands up.

“That was terrible but I guess it’s a start.” She sighed. “Well, I’ll see you later after the recording maybe. You definitely owe me a drink now.”

Susie sat down with her coffee and opened her folder, sorting through the scripts.

Sammy cleared his throat.

“Let me try that again”, he said, hovering in the doorway. “They’re thinking of adding a new character and I told them you should voice her.”

He left before she could say anything.

Sammy quickly walked down to the music department, stopping by his office to pick up some notes before heading to the recording room. He pushed the door open with his shoulder as he had coffee in one hand and the notes in the other.

“Hey, Sammy!”

Surprised at being beaten to first place, Sammy looked up to see who it was. It wasn’t Norman or any of the band members. Bendy was there but he wasn’t alone and suddenly Sammy felt wide awake.

Boris waved at him.

The cup fell from Sammy’s hand.

“You’ve got to be kidding me… “

 

Henry could hear them even on his way to the workroom.

“We needed a clarinetist!”

“And you immediately thought to ask Satan for one?”

“It sounds a bit rash when you say it like that.”

One of the animators who were leaving in the room in a hurry whispered a quick “Good luck!” as they passed Henry. When he walked into the workroom, Joey was cowering behind on of the tables while Sammy looked ready to climb right over and start throttling him.

“It worked out the last time I tried it”, Joey said with a chipper voice even as he kept a close eye on Sammy, circling around the table to make sure he kept enough distance between them.

“You’re doing summoning rituals at the studio. What if you messed it up? I don’t think any of our insurance covers damage done by the legions of Hell!”

“But I got it right this time. On model and everything”, Joey punched the air joyfully. “Progress!”

Sammy was slack-jawed.

“What’s wrong with you?”

He glanced towards Henry who had seated himself close by in case he needed to step between them. Henry just shrugged. He honestly didn’t know how to answer that one.

It almost looked like it could’ve ended there. Sammy seemed to be channeling Henry’s  _it’s too early for this_ -sentiment and Joey’s unending enthusiasm could be tiring at the best of times. Then Joey decided to further explain himself.

“I thought Boris would be a good addition to the music department too. You could use someone who’s a bit more in tune, so to speak, with the cartoon itself.”

There was a moment of silence as Sammy’s neurons were busy firing off wildly as he tried to process what Joey had said.

“Are you saying I’m doing a bad job?”

“I don’t think I did?”

Joey tried to catch Henry’s eye but he was his own with this one.

Sammy’s jaw moved wordlessly before his face somehow flushed and paled at the same time.

“Then what are you saying?” Sammy’s voice was eerily calm but his hands were clenched hard.

Please, please, please… Henry didn’t even know what he was asking for. Anything at this point probably.

“I thought you’d appreciate the help?” Joey said, backing away slowly from Sammy.

Then something or someone answered Henry’s prayers. Instead of punching Joey, Sammy simply turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Joey and Henry in the workroom.

For once Joey seemed to have the read the room because he sighed with relief and almost collapsed in the chair by his work space. Then he looked at Henry with one of his almost ever present smiles.

“I think he took it well, don’t you?”

Or maybe not.

“Sometimes I envy you”, Henry muttered.

“Thanks!

“No, that’s not-" Henry sighed. “Fine, let’s go with that.”

Henry took a moment to relax before the others returned now that the danger of Sammy blowing a fuse was over for now, while Joey got back to work.

“You know why I did it this time, don’t you?” Joey suddenly asked with an odd expression on his face. “Why I summoned Boris?”

“To help Sammy?” Henry raised an eyebrow. “Or was that just something you said to stop him from strangling you?”

Joey rubbed his neck with a grimace.

“He’s got a surprisingly strong grip”, he mumbled. “Probably from all that banjo playing.”

“I’m not sure why you do half the things you do. I assume you mostly do them to see if you can, honestly”, Henry said. “Not that I mind going along for the ride. With the exception when I have to stop someone from punching you.”

“See?” Joey was smiling again. “That’s exactly why. You’ve always stuck around even when everyone said I was crazy.”

“Joey, you are a little crazy but uh… “ Henry smiled as well. “I guess that’s what I like about you.”

“Yes! And Bendy needs someone like you. He’s going to be around far longer than any of us.” Joey looked down on the shot he was working on with a sad smile. “They all are...”

“Joey… “ Henry made his way over to his friend. “You know I got your back. Even if you drive me up the wall sometime.”

“I know”, Joey clapped him on the shoulder. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go and check if Wally has anything that can get rooster blood out of a carpet.”

“What?” Henry said with the smile still fixed on his face.

“Funny story, actually”, Joey called over his shoulder on his way out. “Turns out I didn’t even need the rooster for the summoning!”

 

Boris held the clarinet tightly and close to his chest. He’d been really looking forward to playing but it seemed he’d somehow upset Mr Lawrence without meaning to. Bendy had told him not to worry about it.

“Sammy likes to yell”, Bendy said. “It’s his happy place.”

“Is he always like that?”

Boris loved music. It made you happy and sometimes sad too but even that made you happy in the end. He thought that being the music director had to be the best job in the world but Mr Lawrence hadn’t looked like a happy man at all, even if he’d been in his happy place.

Bendy mulled it over before answering.

“Let’s put it this way, Sammy is what you could call a natural.”

“A natural at what?” Boris asked.

“He means that deep down, under all that yelling, Sammy is a bit of a jerk”, Norman translated helpfully.

He’d arrived as Sammy had stormed out of the recording room and was taking Boris’ arrival in a stride.

“I heard that, Polk.”

“I know you did”, Norman replied without even glancing at the music director.

When Sammy walked back in he noted how Bendy cautiously moved to stand between him and Boris.

Oh, that would’ve been just adorable if Sammy hadn’t discovered an uncomfortably realistic fake spider in his desk drawer last week, courtesy of Bendy. Then he might have believed that the demon wasn’t, well, a demon. And it was a little insulting. He wasn’t some kind of monster.

Sammy leaned back against the wall and gestured towards the clarinet, still in Boris’ tight grip.

“Go ahead, play something for us”, he said and crossed his arms expectantly. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Boris looked down at Bendy who smiled at him. It wasn’t the usual big grin that Boris was used to, but a small smile that he didn’t remember seeing before.

“You’re going to be great, pal”, Bendy said.

Boris thought about what he should play and finally decided on the song that had always been with him right from the very beginning. Or at least, he’d known it for as long as he could remember. When he was done, Boris nervously looked around the room with his tail tucked against his leg.

Norman and Bendy started applauding, even Sammy joined in towards the end with a few half-hearted claps and with a slightly bewildered look on his face.

“That was the first song I wrote for the studio”, Sammy said, gazing thoughtfully at Boris.

“You did? It’s one of my favorites, Mr Lawrence!”

Boris’ awe quickly gave way for nervousness again.

“Did I do it right?”

“Are you kidding? That was great, Boris!” Norman cut in before Sammy could answer.

“Yeah! You really showed that clarinet who’s the boss”, Bendy said.

“It wasn’t bad.”

Both Norman and Bendy glared at Sammy but Boris was overjoyed. Sure, he was happy that Bendy and Norman liked it too but according to Bendy, it was Mr Lawrence who made all the big decisions when it came to the music.

“You really think so, Mr Lawrence?” Boris held the clarinet tighter than ever before. “Does that mean I can play in the band?”

“Um… yeah, sure. For now at least.”

Boris rushed forward to shake Sammy’s hand.

“Thank you so much, Mr Lawrence!”

Bendy snickered as Sammy did his best to keep his indifferent composure while basically being thrown around like a rag doll. Boris was very expressive and enthusiastic in showing his gratitude.

“Take it easy on him, Boris. You might scramble his brains like that”, Bendy said when it started to look like Sammy had enough.

“Sorry, Mr Lawrence”, Boris hurriedly let go of the music director, giving him a little support as Sammy swayed dangerously.

“Errr… it’s fine and… “ Sammy grit his teeth. “Call me Sammy.”

Boris’ tail started wagging and knocked over a note stand behind him.

“Sorry, Mr La- Sammy.”

“Don't worry about it”, Sammy eyed Boris thoughtfully. “Say, you wouldn’t want to have a look at the recording equipment? I mean, we’re going to have to find something more for you to do when Bert-”

“George”, Norman muttered.

He could’ve sworn that Sammy looked extra smug at that.

“- gets back. What do you say?”

“That sounds fun!”

“Good. Norman can show you the ropes. Isn’t that right, Polk?”

Norman and Bendy exchanged looks.

“Sure, I can do that”, Norman said a bit hesitantly.

“Who are you and what have you done with Sammy?”

Sammy leveled a disdainful glare at Bendy.

“You still here, boss? Don’t you a have some doodling to do?”

Bendy stuck out his tongue at Sammy before putting a hand on Boris’ arm.

“You okay with this?”

Boris nodded and smiled.

“Alright then, I’ll catch up with you later. I have a ton of stuff to show you.”

Bendy was practically vibrating with excitement, his grin stretched wide.

 

Despite the chaotic start, Sammy was feeling pretty good at the end of the day. Boris was easy to get along with. It was difficult for Sammy to completely dislike someone who showed such cheerful appreciation for music in general and for Sammy’s own work.

Norman and the band worked really well together with Boris too.

“He’s a fast learner and you mellow out when he’s around”, Norman said as they locked up for the end of the day.

“I do not!” Sammy protested. “It’s just that he gets this look on his face if you so much as raise your voice.”

“Uh-huh… “

News traveled fast in the studio so Sammy wasn’t surprised that Susie stopped by to be charmingly insufferable before he left for home.

“I heard you made a new friend”, she sing-songed.

“That’s not remotely what happened today”, Sammy said, trying to hide his face behind a couple of music sheets he’d been reading.

“If you keep this up, we’ll have you turn into a social butterfly in no time.”

Susie put her hand to her chest and gasped.

“Why, soon you won’t have time for little old me.”

“You’re a real riot”, Sammy muttered. “You can forget about me buying you that drink.”

“You sure? What if I accidentally let Norman know that you only pretend to not remember the bands’ names?”

Sammy lowered his papers to look at her.

“You’re actually devious, aren’t you?” he said, sounding a bit pleased about it.

“Only a little”, Susie promised.

On his way out, Sammy passed Wally who was lugging a rolled up carpet over his shoulder. It said a lot about his current mood when Sammy didn’t even feel the usual instant irritation at the sight of the janitor. In fact, the sight made him feel unusually charitable towards Wally because he recognized who the carpet belonged to.

“Are you stealing Joey’s carpet, Franks? If you are, I didn’t see anything.”

Wally stopped and adjusted his grip.

“Nah, Mr Drew wanted me to clean it but then Henry gave me a couple of bucks and told me to burn it.”

Sammy looked at the carpet. Other than a few dark stains it looked okay.

“You know what? I’m not even going to ask.”

“Yeah, that’s what I told him too.”

Both men quickly went their separate way, feeling deeply uncomfortable that they’d agreed on something for once.


	3. Of course, you realize this means war (I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How many cans of bacon soup should a man drink? It’s a rhetorical question but probably not as many as Henry has by this point. Luckily, the studio is getting help from above.
> 
> Sort of.

Things were settling into a routine at _Joey Drew Studios_ with a few rough patches here and there. The ink machine still acted up and the pipes weren’t exactly up to standards despite Wally’s best efforts. They leaked almost constantly and the pressure had tendency to build up until it ruptured somewhere in the studio. Usually in the music department, usually around Sammy. Although, Wally swore that the piping system wasn’t more prone to failure in the music department or wherever Sammy happened to be but the music director did have the loudest reaction to it so it sure seemed that way.

Other than faulty pipes, life at the studio had found a rhythm, that could at times get pretty hectic, but Bendy found that it was easy to get used to. Even if it suddenly meant he had Responsibilities which was nuts. Sure, it was Joey’s name on the studio and he still had to sign the checks but it was Bendy making sure he even remembered signing the aforementioned checks.

Work intermingled with the regular drawing breaks outside the studio with Henry or piano lessons with Joey. There was the occasional exchange of complaints with Norman or Susie about their sometimes unhinged co-workers and the more frequent match of wits with Sammy. Well, that usually ended up being Bendy pushing Sammy’s buttons which were easy to find and clearly marked.

Bendy had definitely gotten used to the quiet mornings when it was just him and Boris, before the rest of the studio workers began trickling in. This morning however, was a break from the routine as Boris had a quick breakfast before joining the writers to get an early start on the script.

Not that it made much difference to Bendy because he’d only had to wait around a short while near the studio entrance before Sammy marched in. You could almost set your watch after him. This morning, both Joey and Henry were almost right on his heel.

“Sammy! Hey! Sammy!” Joey called. “Wait up!”

Sammy reluctantly slowed down and waited for the other two to catch up to him.

“Didn’t you hear us before?” Joey said. “I called your name several times.”

“Did you? Must’ve missed it”, Sammy said airily. “You know how it is with all the traffic.”

“There was hardly any-”

“Good morning, boss”, Henry said before things could escalate any further.

Bendy waved lazily at them.

“’Good’ might be stretching it”, he said and yawned. “The ink machine made a racket all through the night. Didn’t sound like a happy camper at all. You might want to take a look at it again, Joey.”

Joey glanced upwards were one particular big pipe ran along the ceiling.

“Really? I went over the piping with Wally a couple of days ago. I thought for sure nothing could go wrong with it now.”

He was met by a collective groan.

“Come on, Joey”, Henry said. “You of all people shouldn’t tempt fate like that.”

On cue the pipe above them rumbled and taking that as their cue; all three of them took a step away from Sammy.

“Really?” He glared at them.

The pipe rumbled even louder and Sammy resigned himself to his fate; taking a deep breath, closing his mouth and shutting his eyes tight. After a minute or so he cracked one eye open and patted himself down only to find that his clothes were completely ink-free.

“Huh… “ Sammy sounded pleasantly surprised, almost a little suspicious.

Joey scratched his chin.

“Maybe you’re right, Ben. You can never be too careful.”

“There’s something I never thought I’d hear you say”, Sammy muttered but he seemed to be in a relatively good mood because of the unexpected luck.

“Sounds good”, Bendy said and grabbed Joey by the wrist. “After we get some work done. Then you can gawk at pipes all you want.”

Joey cast on last lingering look at the pipes before allowing himself to be pulled away.

But even in cartoons the status quo couldn’t be forever. Things changed bit by bit. They had a new character now and it wasn’t that Bendy didn’t appreciate the new dynamic Alice Angel brought to _The Bendy Show_. He’d been all for a new character to shake things up. Henry and Joey had done amazing work with the concept and finalization of the design. Susie was a perfect fit for Alice Angel’s voice and she really deserved her own role by now.

It was just… did they all have to like Alice Angel so much right away?

Bendy knew he shouldn’t let it get to him like this but it was a constant itch. He hadn’t even told Henry about it because he felt kind of dumb about the whole thing. It was like when he and Joey had been going through the new posters that had been left over when the rest had been sent off to different distribution locals. Henry had done some of his best work with the posters, they really popped off the wall. Bendy had been busy admiring himself when Joey waved Sammy over.

“You want one for your office?”

Sammy actually looked interested in Joey’s offer.

“Do you have any with Alice Angel left?” he asked, leaning forward for a look.

“No, sorry”, Joey said. “All out of those.”

“Boris?”

Joey shook his head.

“We’ve got the one with Bendy if you want?”

“Pass”, Sammy said, looking right at Bendy as he said it.

If he was trying to be being subtle, Sammy wasn’t fooling anyone. Please, like Bendy didn’t get what Sammy was trying to do. He was the Little Devil Darling after all; he could tell when someone was trying to get a rise out of him. Of course, that didn’t strictly mean it wasn’t working a little.

“Hey!” Bendy rolled out one of the posters for Sammy. “This is a perfectly good poster. Look at that mug. That’s one handsome guy, that’s what.”

Sammy actually scoffed at the poster Bendy was holding out to him.

“This is a downright lovable face”, Bendy said and mirrored the grin depicted on the poster.

“Or the face of someone who puts a bucket of ink on a door.”

“Still mad about that, huh?” Bendy clicked his tongue. “You keep grudges. It’s not healthy, Sammy-boy.”

Sammy clenched his jaw.

“It was this morning", he said.

“Pfff! Ancient history!”

“Not that it has anything to do with that”, Sammy continued. “I just happen to think Alice Angel is funnier in the latest production.”

Sammy glanced towards the left over posters.

“Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks that.”

“Schadenfreude is a bad look for you, Sammy”, Bendy muttered.

“Hm?” Sammy smirked. “Looking pretty green-eyed there for someone in black and white, boss.”

What did he know? Bendy was still the main character. Kids, parents and the family pet loved him!

Bendy wasn’t jealous. Nope. Not this toon. He was happy that Alice Angel was a hit but… couldn’t she’d been more like a light tap on the shoulder instead of a direct knock out?

A toon could feel a bit unappreciated around the studio for less.

Fortunately, there was always something at the studio to distract him. For instance, making sure Joey finished on time. He knew how to make a good cartoon but Joey had that tendency to get distracted on his way to making them. Judging by Henry’s slightly harried appearance, getting distracted was something Joey had been doing lately.

Not bothering to knock, Bendy started talking before he even had the door open to Joey’s office.

“Hey, Joey, are you done with your shots? Tell me that you’re done. I need to hear those exact words. Say it, sing it, do a dirty limerick. I don’t care. I just need to- “ Bendy stopped at the threshold to Joey’s office.

The lights were off but the room was illuminated in a dim glow from the flickering lights from candles placed in a circle in a way Bendy only recognized too well. Joey was standing beside the circle containing the pentagram, futilely trying to clean the ink off his glasses. His face was also smudged with ink and his hair was sticking up in places.

Despite this Joey appeared to be immensely pleased with himself.

“Oh hey, Ben. This was going to be a surprise but I guess this as a good time as any to introduce you two.”

Bendy took it all in.

“Her, Joey? _Her_?”

“Hello to you too”, Alice Angel said, still standing in the middle of the pentagram.

She was sipping on a glass of black ink. Joey had even given her a straw for it, Bendy noted resentfully. Joey prattled on as he started to pick up the candles to blow them out. He acted like cleaning after an occult ritual was an everyday occurrence. It wasn’t but when it came to Joey, it still happened more regularly than anyone at the studio would’ve liked.

“The ink machine was on the fritz like you said before”, Joey said. “So I had all this ink and I thought, what better way to get rid of it than use it to summon Alice here?”

Bendy took a short moment to bury his face in his hands to muffle his scream of frustration before answering Joey in a relatively calm fashion.

“This is the bacon soup all over again!” he shouted as calmly as he could.

“I think I resent that”, Alice said.

Joey knitted his brow.

“Why don’t you take a seat, Alice?” he said to her. “I’ll talk this over with Bendy. He’s just a little surprised that’s all.”

“Oh sure”, Alice drawled. “I’ll be over here, coming to terms with my new existence, if you need me for anything.”

“Great!” Joey gave her a smile before he was grabbed and dragged over to a corner of the room.

“I understand that you’re upset”, Joey started slowly; searching for any reaction from Bendy that he was on the right track.

“Upset?” Bendy laughed. “Me? Upset! Not at all! Does it look like I’m upset about anything?”

Bendy pointed at his own face where ink was starting to drip down from his horns.

“Yes?” Joey tried

“The only thing that upsets me right now is that if you just haaaad to summon another toon, why couldn’t you have conjured up… I don’t know… Olive Oyl instead? Now she’s a looker!”

“I can’t believe you would even joke about that!” Joey whispered. “I’m feeling very betrayed right now but I’ll let it slide since you’re clearly upset.”

“I’m not upset!” Bendy whispered back.

“Please, Bendy. I know what I’m doing.”

Bendy glared at him.

“Fine”, Joey conceded. “I know what I’m doing _this_ time. We can take it nice and easy with her. Introduce Alice to studio when she’s ready and most importantly… “

Joey seemed to be experiencing a rare case of self-examination.

“We can make sure to introduce her to Sammy as gently as possible”, he said with one hand rubbing his neck. “You know, not make him upset like he’s been… those other times.”

“That sounds absolutely corking, Joey, but I’m going to bring all your good points crashing down with one question.”

Bendy steepled his hands together and regarded Joey with a solemn expression.

“Where is Alice Angel right now?”

Joey tilted his head.

“What do you mean? She’s right here… “ as Joey turned to point, his face fell. “Oh.”

Except for the two of them, there was no one else in his office. Especially not a certain cartoon angel.

“She left while we were talking, didn’t she?” Joey said with slumped shoulders.

“Yep”, Bendy said, feeling only a little malicious.

“Well, gosh darn it!”

Distantly, they could hear someone screaming. It seemed to be coming from the music department.

“But it sounds like you got breaking the news to Sammy out of the way at least”, Bendy said.

Joey perked up at that.

“So we could call this a success for the most part?”

“No, that’s not- “ Bendy sighed, “Fine, let’s go with that.”

 

The sudden appearance by Alice Angel in the music department had completely flipped the script on Susie Campbell’s day. Almost literally since Mel who she’d been recording lines with actually threw his script up in the air when he spotted Alice on the other side of the booth’s glass.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” Susie said and couldn’t keep herself from clapping her hands excitedly. “I mean, of course I can believe it since I’ve been here long enough but… still! It’s you! Alice Angel!”

Norman glanced over at them, smiling a little, before returning his attention to the booth were the voice recording had continued. Although not where they’d left off since Susie asked for a small break. She was much too excited to be able to carry on right away. Not that Alice seemed to mind, especially since the response she’d gotten since she sneaked away from Joey and Bendy had been mixed to say the least.

“Nice to meet you too, um… “

“Sorry! Sorry! I completely forgot”, Susie put her hand out. “Susie Campbell. I’m… well, I guess I’m your voice.”

Alice shook her hand.

“In that case, thank you. It’s a nice set of pipes you’ve given me.”

“Oh, you’re absolutely welcome.”

“And it’s nice to finally meet someone who doesn’t start yelling at me when I compliment them”, Alice said with a pout. “Not like the banjo-man, I just wanted to hear him play and when I said I liked it he, well… “

Susie snorted. _Banjo-man_ , she needed to remember that one.

“Oh, that was Sammy. He was just... surprised by you.”

“A lot of people seem to be surprised by me”, Alice said quietly.

Susie smiled. She did that a lot. Alice liked it.

“We’ll let him calm down and then we can re-introduce you. It’ll be fine, he likes you already.”

Susie gestured for Alice to lean in closer and lowered her voice.

“You’re his favorite character on the show but don’t tell him I said that.”

The best part about Susie smiling a lot was that it made Alice smile too.

“I am?”

“You bet! And Sammy, he’s… um… he’s… “ Susie faltered, tapping the tip of her finger against her lips while she searched for the right way to put it.

“Nice once you get to know him?” Alice suggested.

Susie laughed long and hard at that. Alice wasn’t entirely sure why.

After that Alice stayed around to watch the recording. Watching Susie change her voice and reading through her lines was more fun and straightforward than anything Alice had experience since he found herself suddenly standing in a candlelit office.

Susie also made good on her promise to re-introduce her to Sammy before they left the studio for the day. It was a little stilted from Sammy’s side but at least he didn’t start screaming when he saw her this time.

“Don’t you think it’s strange?” Sammy asked Susie after they left studio a bit behind them.

“I mean, she has your voice. Well, almost your voice but it gave me quite the start. I thought it was you first, doing your Alice-voice for some reason and when I looked up… “ Sammy grimaced. “There she was!”

“Oh, I know. I think the whole studio heard you”, Susie said. “Well, luckily I have voices to spare and I like her so I don’t mind. She’s a sweetheart and smart too. I should know and I know you’ll like her, I mean you already do.”

Sammy grunted noncommittally.

“Aren’t you worried they’ll replace you with her?” he asked instead.

“Why would they?” Susie frowned. “Boris and Bendy didn't replace Avery or Mel.”

Susie clenched her hands around the end of the sleeves of her sweater.

“Funny how you didn’t worry about them losing their job”, she said in a voice that sounded more hollow than any voice she’d ever used before. “I’m grateful for your help, Sammy, but I’ve managed to get a good way on my own. I don’t need you to… to coddle me. Is that what you think?”

“Of course not”, Sammy said. “I only ask now because I don’t actually like Avery or Mel.”

Susie was quiet for a beat before she said:

“You’re getting a bit better at this.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about”, Sammy muttered and looked away.

“You’re sweet as a sugar cube when it comes down to it, aren’t you?” Susie continued, fascinated by how Sammy’s face turned a color that suggested that he was either blushing or holding his breath in hopes that passing out on the street would get him out of the conversation.

“I hate it when you use your folksy voice with me”, Sammy said as he kept looking straight ahead.

 

Henry had come to accept his dual role in the studio. The one he was actually paid to do and the other which involved people coming to him with anything from complaints about Joey or just to talk. Henry was fine with it. He was a good listener and he was definitely better at talking to other people without making them want to punch him like Joey. Right now, however, Henry was starting to feel less like a participant and more like a prop in a one-man show starring Bendy.

“Did you know he had a drink prepared for her when he did the summoning? Joey even gave her a straw!”

“You don’t say?” Henry said, hunching over his work, vainly trying to continue drawing as Bendy went on.

“When I got here, I didn’t get a straw. It was all ‘Ooops, made you too tall!’ and ‘I forgot about the deadline because I was busy messing with the laws of nature!’. Joey didn’t get me a drink, which, you know, is the polite thing to do when you summon someone into a different reality. Then there’s _her_. Everyone likes her right away, no screams of terror or anything. Except Sammy but that’s Sammy for you.”

Bendy hopped onto the chair next to Henry, grabbing the ink bottle he brought with him.

“Dames, am I right?” he threw back his head to get last drops of purple ink.

“Try and see it from her perspective”, Henry said gently. “You and Boris knew each other from the start. The Bendy and Boris that Alice remembers don’t exist here. It’s gotta be jarring for her.”

“Still… “ Bendy dug around for another bottle. “Dames! Drives you to stare at the bottom of an empty ink bottle every night.”

“It’s been one day… “ Henry frowned. “Maybe you should ease off the purple stuff tonight?”

“Only if you ease off on chugging down bacon soup, which is apparently never.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

Henry discreetly pushed a tin can under his desk with his foot.

“Am I?” Bendy slumped forward, resting his chin on Henry’s desk. “I’ve been constantly annoyed since Joey went ahead and did his thing without thinking, like he always does. She makes my ink boil. Sheesh! This is probably what it must be like to be Sammy. I should apologize to him… or at least move that bucket of ink I put on his office door earlier.”

Distantly, they could hear angry screams coming from the music department. The sound seemingly traveling along the ink pipes, making them almost quiver against the walls.

“Oh well… “ Bendy gulped down ink from the bottle without lifting his head up from the desk. “It’s the thought that counts, right?”

Henry awkwardly patted Bendy on the shoulder.

 

Henry told him it was going to feel better in the morning and except the slight headache he had from his ink binge, Bendy did feel better. No matter what crazy idea Joey got into his head, there was always work to do at the studio if they wanted to keep making cartoons.

“So, that’s the pitch. Any questions?”

Several hands were raised. Bendy glared a the gathered studio folk in the room.

“Other than about the implications of a toon pitching a cartoon?”

The hands went down.

Bendy groaned, drumming a pen against the table.

“Really, people? We’ve been through this.”

There was some muffled giggling from the back.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re all a bunch of comedians”, Bendy rolled his eyes. “Well, if that’s all- yes, Sammy, we’ll look at the ink machine again and Boris is going to continue working in the music department as per your request, you can take your hand down now- then I think we can wrap this up.”

Alice cleared her throat very delicately, her hand still raised.

“I have an idea”, she said.

Bendy didn’t stop smiling but there was sour note to it now.

“Great!” he said, voice strained. “Why don’t you take that idea and write it down? Don’t forget to cross all your T’s and dot all the I’s. Then you can put your idea in an envelope and mail it to Antarctica. Think you can do that for me?”

Alice smiled right back at him.

“Gee, that gave me another idea. How about we don’t waste studio budget on postage to Antarctica, _genius_?”

The pen in Bendy’s hand snapped in half.

“Who’re you calling _genius_?”

“Not you obviously, _genius_ ”, Alice answered blithely.

“Ha!” Bendy triumphantly threw down the pen pieces on the table. “You just did!”

He used enough force to make the pen halves bounce off the table, then off the wall and because the universe works in certain ways, one of the two halves landed in a cup in front of Sammy and splashed coffee on his shirt. There was only a slight twitch in his left eyebrow to indicate a reaction.

“I’m sorry?” Alice started twirling her halo on her finger with an air of extreme disinterest. “Idiotsayswhat?”

“WHAT?”

Bendy looked like he needed another pen to break.

The rest of the people gathered in the room sunk down a couple of inches in their chairs. Most of them wishing that they could be somewhere else. Like a mosquito infested swamp or a freezing mountain top. A scorching desert would do, they weren’t picky, as long as it was anywhere but this room at this very moment.

Sammy on the other hand was snapping his head back and forth between Bendy and Alice as their traded barbs got more and more heated. He was smiling like a man who stumbled into the Wimbledon by mistake and had no idea what he was witnessing but loving every second of it.

Joey was getting a bit green in the face.

“This was not how I imagined it would go”, he said to Henry.

He barely had to lower his voice because of the two toons’ increasing volume.

“How couldn’t you see this coming?” Henry whispered back. “We created her to be his foil.”

Henry glanced around the room and wished he hadn’t. A smiling Sammy gave him the creeps, more so than any of Joey’s occult setups or contraptions.

Joey fidgeted in his chair.

“What do you call it when you have a weird feeling in the pit of your stomach?”

“I think you’re having second thoughts.” Henry suddenly felt very tired. “It explains so much that you don't know that.”

Joey grimaced.

“It's terrible. How do you get anything done like this?”

“I try to think things through before I do them”, Henry said with a flat voice.

“That sounds like a hassle."

Henry buried his face in his hands. He could feel the pit of his own stomach churn with dread. Or maybe it had been one or two cans of bacon soup too many lately. Maybe it was stress. Maybe it was all three of those things at once.

Somehow they managed to bring the meeting to an end. Thank God for Susie, who stepped in and asked for Alice’s assistance with preparing for the next voice recordings. She’d almost carried the toon out while Joey, for once with his head in the game, did a similar maneuver with Bendy. Sammy left the room looking practically giddy with the turn of events.

Henry had seen some pretty strange things in his life given how long he’d known Joey but that had been a very close second to cartoons coming to life. He retreated to the workroom after the meeting, hoping to at least find some peace and quiet by working out there instead. Safety in numbers and an all that.

However, the tension between the Bendy and Alice spread throughout the studio as if the mood of the entire building was intrinsically linked to the cartoon’s main characters and Henry wasn’t even surprised when Norman unexpectedly showed up by his desk in the workroom.

Norman looked like someone had pulled the rug out from under his feet. The man who worked side by side with Sammy and rarely complained. The man who Henry had seen deal with almost anything life threw at him, one time literally when Sammy lost his temper and didn’t realize Norman was standing so close to him.

“I can’t take this anymore, Henry”, Norman said with a tight voice, his normally relaxed demeanor tense. “Yesterday Sammy told me I was doing a great job and you know what he said next?”

Henry looked around the room. Joey was nowhere to be seen and the others suddenly seemed deeply entranced by their work. Those traitors…

“No”, Henry said weakly. “But I guess you’re going to tell me.”

“He… “ Norman took a deep breath as if the words could only be said with great difficulty. “Sammy said that he was lucky to have me as a conductor. Those exact words. Sammy said them. To me! He was smiling when he said it too, Henry. Smiling!”

“That sounds… bad?”

It actually did.

Norman frowned.

“Well, not those _exact_ words”, he amended. “Sammy didn’t say _conductor._ He called it _ringleader of the loony bin_ but I know what he meant.”

Norman looked around the room before leaning forward, lowering his voice.

“Did Joey do something to him?” he asked, and added in an all too serious tone: “You know, magic stuff?”

“To Sammy? Not that I know.”

Norman nodded.

“Demonic possession then.”

“Demonic possession that makes you nice?”

“It’s not right, whatever it is.”

Norman was starting to sound as agitated as Henry felt.

“It’s only getting worse. You’ve got to do something.” Norman pulled at his hair. “I can’t work under these conditions!”

“I’ll try?” Henry offered lamely.

“You better!”

That was a little uncalled for, Henry thought as Norman left, it wasn’t like he was enjoying the situation any more than Norman did. He had his own demon to deal with.

“Henry, there you are!”

Speaking of the devil… and had someone gone and installed revolving doors at the studio when Henry wasn’t looking? Bendy seemed to have traded off with Norman’s position by Henry’s workplace almost seamlessly and was already getting into high gear.

“Who do she think she is? I mean-”

“That’s enough!” Henry pushed himself away from his desk.

“Uh… what?”

Even the other animators who had previously been fully focused on their work looked up at Henry in shock.

“Come on!” Henry stepped out of the workroom with Bendy in tow.

As soon they had some privacy Henry began.

“I want you to know that you can always come to me. You know me, I can deal with almost anything. I could deal with having to basically run the studio by myself when Joey got distracted. I can deal with insane music directors and the cartoons I draw coming to life but this?” Henry gestured to Bendy. “This is too much. You’re going to go find Alice right now and stop whatever it is you two are doing.”

“I’m not doing anything!” Bendy huffed.

Henry grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him closer. There was something serious and a little desperate in his eyes.

“I’m a simple man, boss.”

“… okay?”

“I like cartoons”, Henry continued. “I like drawing cartoons. Is it too much to ask that just this once, I get to draw cartoons? Please?”

“Uh… yeah. Sure, Henry.”

“Thank you!”

Bendy left Henry to it, leaving with the feeling that he’d kicked a puppy or maybe pushed an old man into oncoming traffic. This was apparently where having Responsibilities got you.


	4. Of course, you realize this means war, Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toons that stick together, stay together.

Bendy did everything to avoid talking to Alice again for a couple of days, and he really did try everything. He took on more work, bribing the other animators to let him take their share until Henry caught on. He offered valuable and constructive criticism on Wally's mop technique. That kept him busy for a while until Wally locked himself in the supply closet and wouldn't come out until Bendy promised to leave him alone. He spent an hour or so connecting all the paperclips in Sammy’s office into one long amazing chain.

Bendy was definitely running out of excuses and Henry was starting to get the same look in his eyes like the time Joey tried to invite him over for dinner. Apparently Henry had some huge aversion to eating slow cooked rooster or maybe it was poultry in general.

… maybe Bendy should look into that before he dealt with the whole Alice-situation?

That was definitely what a Responsible Boss-person would do.

He ended up being trapped by Joey’s side for an hour as the man gave a lecture on the nutritional value of roosters and their symbolic meaning in blood sacrifices. Bendy had to make up an excuse for his excuse which led him down to music department where Alice kept herself busy anyway.

Despondently he trudged down the stairs to find Alice.

Bendy wasn’t doing this to be nice or anything. Well, he was trying to be nice to Henry… and maybe he shouldn’t have been so quick to shoot Alice down before. He did feel a little bad about it now which was one of the reasons he’d been putting it off for so long as he had. It had been easy to give into that feeling of righteous vindictiveness before.

A few steps ahead, Bendy could see Alice leave Sammy's office, shutting the door gently behind her.

“Alice!”

She looked up when Bendy called her name, her eyes narrowing when she saw it was him jogging up to her.

“Listen, Alice, I think we got off on the wrong foot”, Bendy started.

It was a good start. No naming names or putting the blame on anyone. Just a guy trying to get a fresh start. Henry would be proud.

“I realize it’s not easy being the newbie.”

Bendy was killing it. He was the poster-boy for Responsible Bosses everywhere. Alice didn’t seem to be all that amazed by his efforts though. She looked uncertain and a little suspicious.

“Probably easier being the newbie than the oldie who’s scared of the newbie”, she said.

It was like a switch had been flipped. Alice smiled in a way anyone with a halo shouldn’t be able to do.

“I get it”, she continued. “One day I’ll probably be on more posters than you can count.”

She glanced down at his hands.

“But I’m guessing your limit is eight?”

“Why, you-”

“Don’t worry; you can be my sidekick then if you’re lucky. But you should know I’ll be laughing when that happens. At you, in case you didn’t get it.”

Under any under circumstances, Bendy would’ve been impressed with how quick she managed to make his ink boil.

“I got it alright”, he practically growled. “Well, I’ll be laughing louder. Because you’ll fail and I’m going to laugh at your failure!”

“Ha!” Alice flicked her hair. “We’ll see about that.”

“HAHA! Yes, we will!”

“HAHAHA!” Alice replied, not to be outdone and tried to loom over him.

“HAHAHAHA!” Bendy got up on his toes, backing down far from his mind.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“HAHA-”

The door to Sammy’s office slammed open and the man himself appeared like a thundercloud. He immediately zeroed in on the source of the disturbance and looked ready to go off when a tall figure appeared behind him.

“HEY!” Boris’ ears were flat against his head. “Keep it down, will ya? People are trying to work here!”

Sammy’s neck was bent as far as it could and he stared up behind him at Boris, gaping like a goldfish. Then he looked back at Alice and Bendy, as if to make sure they were seeing and hearing it too.

“I can’t believe you two!” Boris said with his arms crossed. “Geez!”

Alice and Bendy put their hands behind their backs, their eyes downcast. There were even feet being shuffled nervously as they bore the brunt of Boris’ disapproval. Sammy was also starting to get the feeling he should be apologizing for something but was unsure for what exactly.

“Sorry, Boris”, Bendy mumbled.

“Won’t happen again, Boris”, Alice said, equally remorseful.

“Geez!” Boris said again, shaking his head at them. “Come on, Sammy, let’s get back to it.”

Sammy meekly allowed himself to be led back inside his office again by Boris, who slammed the door behind them.

Left alone again and not sure what exactly had just happened, the two toons looked at each other uncertainly.

Bendy held out his hand.

“Truce?”

With a sigh, Alice reached out to shake his hand only to feel a snap of current going through her followed by an audible ping when her halo was zapped right off her head and straight up into the ceiling.

Bendy waved at her, showing off the joy buzzer in his hand.

“HA!” Bendy turned on his heel and ran off with the last laugh, leaving Alice behind with smoke coming out of her ears.

 

When Susie exited the recording booth, Alice was waiting for her with her halo in her hand and her hair standing on end. It sparked occasionally and the toon had a slightly singed appearance overall. Susie told the others she was taking her break and ushered Alice to somewhere more secluded before going to get a brush and some other things she kept at the studio in case of a hair emergency. This was definitely one of those emergencies.

Trying to untangle Alice’s static hair proved more challenging than Susie had anticipated. For one thing, it kept giving her small shocks.

“How did this even happen?” Susie flinched as a few sparks licked at her fingertips. “Joy buzzers don’t even produce electricity. It’s just vibrations, right?”

Alice groaned.

“Yes, but it’s funnier this way soooo… “ she gestured tiredly to her ridiculous new hair style. “When it shocked me, my halo flew straight up and got stuck in the ceiling too. I had to ask Wally to get it down for me. It was humiliating.”

Susie gave up trying to untangle the hair; instead she pulled Alice in for a hug and tried to ignore the jolt she got from it.

“The worst part is that it’s my fault too”, Alice mumbled into Susie’s shoulder. “I think he was trying to be nice but I was just so mad about before… I couldn’t stop myself.”

The Bendy she remembered had been an annoying little imp but in her memories Alice never felt herself lose control like this Bendy managed to push her to.

“Well, he hasn’t been the model of restraint either. Don’t feel too bad about it.”

Susie could feel ink soaking her clothes.

“I don’t think anyone wants me here… “ Alice said, almost too quiet for Susie to pick up.

“Now, you know that’s not true!” Susie pulled back a little to look Alice in the eye. “Not only do I have someone to talk to without every other sentence being snarky but you’ve been a ton of help as well. I know for a fact that Avery and Mel really appreciate that you’ve pitched in with the voice direction. Sammy thinks the music you submitted was really good too.”

“He said it was acceptable,” Alice said sullenly.

“That’s Sammy-talk for great work”, Susie said with a wry smile. “Trust me on this.”

“I don’t think Sammy likes me all that much."

Alice knew she was wallowing but it felt good to treat herself to a good wallow when Susie was keeping her company.

“I told you he’s like that with everyone”, Susie smirked. “I think the only people that actually makes him angry for real are Joey, Bendy and poor Wally for some reason.”

“Bendy?” Alice said bitterly. “Then we have something in common.”

“And it’s not as bad as it used to be. Bendy used to really get on Sammy’s nerves. He pulled so many pranks on him I nearly thought Sammy would ignite and go through the roof.”

“Pranks… ?” Alice rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

Susie frowned.

“I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but whatever it is; Don’t. I’m not saying that you should be a doormat but you know; try to keep a level head.”

Alice smiled, taking the brush and managing to get her hair down with a few strokes all of a sudden.

“Of course, Susie!” she said, affixing her halo in its proper place again. “I wouldn’t dream of doing anything like that."

Susie narrowed her eyes.

“You’re crossing your fingers behind your back, aren’t you?” she said.

Alice smiled while her halo slipped from its position, ending up a bit crooked.

 

Bendy was trying to bury himself in work when the sound of someone sitting down next to him brought him out of it. It was Boris and he looked absolutely miserable.

“Hey, buddy… what’s the matter?” Bendy asked and quickly put his work aside.

Boris fidgeted nervously.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry for getting so harsh with you and Alice.”

“That wasn’t really… “ Bendy awkwardly patted Boris on the head. He couldn’t deal with those droopy ears. It made him feel terrible.

“Harsh is not the word I’d describe anything you do, buddy. Besides, we were being pretty loud.”

“You were”, Boris agreed, his ears perking up again. “I don’t get why you two don’t get along.”

“I don’t want to talk about it”, Bendy said but this was Boris, he couldn’t say no to Boris. “She gets on my nerves, I guess”, he finally muttered.

It sounded a little petty when he said it out loud but Boris only nodded encouragingly.

“Why?” Boris asked.

“I don’t know!” Bendy said with a shrug.

“Why not?”

If it had been anyone else but Boris, Bendy would’ve been sure he was being made fun of.

“She pushes my buttons so I have to push hers, then she retaliates and then I have to… “ he could feel himself starting to drip.

“I like her”, Boris said calmly.

“You like everyone. Even Sammy.”

“I think Sammy likes her too.”

“That’s because he’s a man who is driven purely by spite.”

“Or because Alice hasn’t put a bucket of ink above his door”, Boris added like the diplomatic pro that he was.

“Come on… you know it helps me wind down after a deadline”, Bendy protested, almost pouting at this point. “Whose side are you on?”

“That’s not what this is about”, Boris said. “You should talk to Alice.”

“I tried that!” Bendy crossed his arms. “I was going to make nice and everything!”

“And?”

“… and then I got mad when she pushed my buttons.”

“Why did she do that?”

“Well, I was kinda lousy to her before.”

“Mm-hm… “

“I probably shouldn’t have let it get to me… or shocked her with the joy buzzer.”

“I see… “

“Which I probably shouldn’t have brought with me in the first place.”

“That’s true.”

Bendy threw his hands up in frustration.

“So I’m a little jealous, alright? There, I’ve said it! Are you happy now?”

Boris looked at him with a serious expression.

“Do you want a hug?”

“No!”

Boris just kept looking at him. It should’ve been illegal to have a face like that.

Bendy slumped in his chair.

“Yes… “

 

When Sammy opened the door to his office the lights were off and the smell of smoke was almost oppressive even to him. In the dark he could make out the faint light from a glowing ember.

“Hey, pal. I heard you were in the market for revenge”, a shadow sitting in his chair said.

Sammy turned on the light. The chair swiveled around so its occupant could look at him directly but Alice disappeared from view almost immediately as she’d given too much force to the spin. Sammy looked on as she went a few turns more before managing to stop it by putting her foot against the desk.

“Are those my cigarettes?” Sammy asked incredulously.

“Yes and they taste terrible”, Alice said and happily stubbed it out. “I had to smoke a whole bunch of them because I didn’t know when you were going to get here.”

“Why would you-”

“I needed to set the mood”, she said and coughed.

Sammy carefully edged his way into his office, never letting her out of his sight.

“Whatever it is you’re doing, I don’t have time for it”, he said.

“Oh, you’ll be interested in what I have to say.”

“Somehow I doubt that.”

“You sure?” Alice smiled beatifically, her hands folded neatly in her lap. “Because I have a time, a place and a certain inky demon who’s going to get what’s coming to him but...” she glanced away demurely.

Against his better judgment, Sammy stopped what he was doing.

“But what?” he asked.

Alice carefully smoothed her dress out.

“I’m going to need some help with acquiring certain… supplies. I can’t ask Joey because you know how he is. He might let it slip to Bendy that I asked him for help. Susie doesn’t want me to get into trouble. I figured you might be willing to listen however.”

From seemingly nowhere Alice produced a piece of paper.

“I’ve made a list for what I’ll need for my little gag.”

Sammy almost hung his head in defeat as he took the list from her.

“I don’t think I can smuggle an anvil into the studio”, he said as he started reading through the list she’d written down.

Alice shrugged.

“Oh, that. That would’ve been a bonus. I can manage without the anvil.”

Susie always talked about how she had a connection with Alice Angel. Right now, Sammy couldn’t see it. Susie would’ve told them both to stop this nonsense. She would be right, of course. Sammy had better things to do than get in the middle of the conflict between Bendy and Alice, no matter how entertaining it was. Especially because of how entertaining it was all on its own.

Though Sammy did feel like he was entitled to engage in some nonsense for once, after all he’d been put through recently. Also, he was horribly curious what Alice was going to do with the clock radio, the Flossy Flirt-doll and the...

“Industrial strength nylon rope?”

“It’s better the less you know."

Sammy stared at her.

“Is that halo just for show or what?"

Alice carefully adjusted the halo.

"Well, it draws attention away from the horns”, she said.

Sammy screwed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose before relaxing, opening his eyes again to glare at Alice.

“Fine! I’m going to regret this somehow but I’ll help you.”

“Wonderful!” Alice cleared her throat. “And while you’re out doing that, you should probably add cigarettes to the list because I smoked all of yours.”

She coughed out a small puff of smoke.

Sammy was definitely entitled to some nonsense.

 

It turned out to be nonsense of epic proportions, equally horrifying and magnificent. Years to come, the studio would still talk about it in hushed voices and it left its mark on the building itself.

For a long time afterwards, Joey kept finding feathers in weird places in his office even though Wally promised he'd gone over the whole room several times.

On hot summer days, parts of the studio would smell faintly of honey and cotton candy.

Henry found a single human tooth in a can of bacon soup but that could’ve been unrelated.

And they never did find the raccoon from the back alley again after it managed to sneak inside during the chaos that unfolded at _Joey Drew Studios_ that day. Wally claimed it survived the entire thing and lived on in the studio’s vents but no one was really sure what happened to it.

One thing that everyone could be sure of was that the ultimate end result was that Bendy ended up tarred and feathered in a way that would’ve brought tears to the eyes of even the most seasoned mob out on the plains.

“You’re despicable!” Bendy tried to march up to Alice but the layers of unidentifiable stuff he was covered in made his feet stick to the floors and instead of an angry march, he more or less stumbled his way over to her.

“And tricking poor, innocent and easily manipulated Sammy to help you with your little scheme… for shame!”

That at least wiped the smirk off the music director’s face. Sammy and Boris were standing on the side watching the confrontation, the latter not at looking like he was enjoying any of this. Then again, Alice didn’t look like she was enjoying it fully either. She looked a bit smug but also apprehensive.

Bendy pulled off the crumpled up paper that had stuck to the side of his head with as much dignity as he could muster.

“But the rabid raccoon was a nice touch”, he said with a grin.

Alice didn’t look entirely sure where he was going with this.

“That part was completely improvised”, she said slowly.

“Nicely done either way”, Bendy bowed deeply. “Couldn’t have done it better myself!”

Alice covered her mouth with her hand but Bendy was pretty sure he’d seen a smile there.

“I mean, I’m the first to admit I’ve been getting a little predictable. I did the ink bucket on the door gag twice in a row, but this was really something.”

“Well, the bucket on a door is a classic for a reason.”

“You definitely know your stuff. How about you and me exchange ideas over a drink?”

“What you got?”

“Anything you'd like; black, red, yellow. Just pick your poison."

“In that case, lead the way then”, Alice said and she wasn’t even trying to hide her smile now.

Sammy and Boris watched the two toons leave together.

“What just happened?” Sammy asked no one in particular. He had the unsettling feeling that the entire thing had somehow backfired on him even though Bendy had been put through tenfold of everything he’d ever tried on Sammy.

Boris shrugged but he was smiling.

 

They swept away some of the feathers that were piled in Joey’s office and Bendy got out a couple of the ink bottles Joey kept in there. He poured them each a glass and they clinked them together, drinking it sitting on the floor to at least spare some of Joey’s office furniture.

“I’ve got to hand it to you, that was a good one", Bendy said.

“Wasn’t it?”

“You even got Sammy to play along”, Bendy let out a low whistle.

“Oh, that was the easy part. Constructing the pulley system was trickier.”

“If you say so.”

An awkward silence descended on them.

“Umm… I heard you’ve been helping out in the music department?”

Alice shrugged.

“A little here and there. Mostly with the voice recordings though.”

“That I’ve definitely noticed. Sammy hasn’t complained once about having to deal with the voice actors on top of his usual workload since you got here”, Bendy chuckled. “It’s been a huge relief, especially for Mel and Avery. I think half their sessions with Sammy consist of him yelling: ‘You’re not even trying!’ at them and ripping the script apart and I mean the script. Sammy got a stronger grip than you’d think.”

“Yeeeah… “ Alice smiled fondly. “Sammy’s a little high-strung. I think he might even challenge the ink machine to fisticuffs or something one of these days.”

Bendy snorted.

“I’d like to see that!”

They fell silent again and it wasn’t the kind of silence that was comfortable but it felt like progress.

“You know”, Bendy said, a bit hesitantly. “You’re not half bad.”

“And you’re at least half good.”

Alice put her hand out and after a moment Bendy shook it, much to Alice’s immediate dismay.

“Yuck! I forgot I had you covered in gunk.”

She tried wiping her hand on the floor, almost pulling her glove off in her attempts.

“I didn’t!” Bendy said cheerfully, putting an arm around her shoulders in a comradely fashion.

Alice rolled her eyes.

“You’re despicable!”

They shared a moment of silence for a third time.

“Um… you can get off now, Bendy”, Alice said, fidgeting a little. “I got the joke.”

“I’m... I’m trying!”

Bendy tried to push himself away with a bit more force.

“What’s... ugh, what's in this stuff anyway?"

“I made it myself”, Alice tried to hold onto the desk as Bendy pulled in the other direction. “But um… I kind of lost track what I mixed into it. Overcome as I was with lust for revenge and all that. OW! Quit pulling my hair!”

“Stop shoving at me! You’re making it worse!”

"Ow! Stop it! Uuugh, why did you draw me with this much hair?"

With a great deal of struggle, Bendy managed to pull a hand loose only to get it stuck to his own face.

“Well, this isn’t good”, he said.

 

Meanwhile, Susie was trying to get Sammy out of his office where he’d holed himself up. The unexpected and fragile truce between Bendy and Alice seemed to have sent him down a dark spiral of petulance. 

“I don’t have time for you, Susie”, he’d said without looking up the moment she set foot in his office.

Unfortunately for Sammy, Susie was not that easily deterred. She knew him by now.

“Sammy, I know for a fact that for once, you actually have time. Why don’t you come along with the rest of us? We’re going out for drinks since the studio isn't exactly the best work environment right now.”

“You go have fun. I have a lot to finish up here.”

“Do you now?”

“There are several pieces for the next episode that need some polishing before I can hand them off.”

“I thought Alice did those?”

“Yes, well, I have to go through them to make sure it’s not terrible.”

“Which you already did this morning.”

Sammy finally looked at her.

“How would you know… “ he frowned. “Oh, she told you. Well... I still have to unclip all my paperclips because  _someone_ put them all together into a chain."

He leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed as if paperclips in general and the thought of the music department being a step ahead in the production schedule were an affront to his sensibilities.

Susie sighed.

“Are you mad because your little escapade with Alice didn’t turn out like you were expecting?”

“I didn’t expect anything”, Sammy muttered.

“I think it’s nice they’re starting to get along. At least a little bit.”

“You would”, Sammy sneered.

“Are you going to mope in here for the rest of the evening?”

“Yes”, Sammy said, putting his head down again and trying to turn away from her.

Susie wasn’t surprised to find that if anyone could push her positive outlook on life to its limits; it was Sammy Lawrence. Then Norman knocked on the doorway.

“Are you two coming or what? We’re waiting for you.”

Susie turned to Norman with her brightest smile.

“Hey, Norman”, she said. “Did you know Sammy’s been pretending that he doesn’t know the bands’ names to mess with you?”

Norman gave Sammy a tight-lipped smile and the man in question froze up, his eyes wide.

“Is that so?” Norman said.

“He knows all of their names", Susie continued, looking back at Sammy who was quickly getting to his feet now.

Sammy could see it now. The way she smiled and the slight tilt of her head. There was definitely a connection between Susie Campbell and Alice Angel.

He held his hands up, palms towards Norman.

“Now, Norman. I can assure you that’s simply not true.”

Norman was still smiling but there was a certain edge to it. Sammy considered his options.

“I still can’t remember the bassoonist’s name”, he finally said.

“It’s-” Norman started.

“I actually don’t care.”

Norman shook his head, that same smile still in place.

“Do you have any idea… no, you know what?” Norman shook his head again. “I’m not even surprised anymore.”

“I completely understand if you’d prefer it if I skipped this outing but I’m sure Susie still wants to-”

“Oh no! You’re not getting off the hook that easy.”

To Sammy’s credit, he didn’t try to back away or flinched when Norman walked up to him to sling an arm around his shoulders. The grip Norman had him in didn’t give Sammy any chance to resist as he was dragged out of his office were the rest of the group were waiting.

“Hey, everyone! Drinks are on Sammy tonight!” Norman declared.

There were a couple of hesitant cheers from the group.

“Isn’t that right, Sammy?” Norman said and looked at Sammy, still wearing that same smile.

“Yeeeeees?” Sammy said carefully.

“Good man!” Norman clapped Sammy on the shoulders a couple of times. It would’ve knocked Sammy over hadn’t Norman still been keeping a tight grip around his shoulders.

“Look at you”, Susie whispered, coming up from behind them. “Making new friends like nobody’s business.”

Sammy glowered at her before Norman dragged him away. She might have lost a perfectly good card up her sleeve but Susie decided it was completely worth it.

 

Joey took a deep breath before entering his office where Boris said Bendy and Alice had been holed up the past half-hour. He had Henry and Boris with him, none of them looked especially happy to be there.

“Now see here”, Joey said as he opened the door, doing his best to be stern. “I don’t mind the occasional joke but this has to stop. The whole place almost got turned upside down and I think Wally is about to cry… um, what are you two doing?”

Alice was by the door Joey had just opened, trying to keep her hold on her halo which she had hooked around the door handle. Bendy meanwhile was slowly and strenuously trying to walk to the other side of the room.

Between them was a long stretch of sticky mess with feathers, a couple of model sheets and various office supplies stuck to it. It was a valiant effort but in the end, the door handle gave up first, making Alice snap back together with Bendy with enough force to make twittering birds appear around both their heads.

“Smart move, genius”, Alice said dazedly.

“Like this is my fault!” Bendy snapped back.

Bendy waved off the birds that circled around them. They chirped aggressively, snapping their tiny but sharp beaks at him before dispersing into thin air.

Joey was at a loss for words and while he floundered for how to go on with his prepared scolding, Henry and Boris just stared at the scene before them. Then Henry started laughing. It was the kind of laugh you couldn’t stop no matter how much you tried and Henry wasn’t even trying to stop it at all. It looked like it hurt a little.

“This isn’t funny, Henry!” Bendy hissed with a note of panic in his voice.

Struggling to breathe Henry managed to nod and force out: “You’re right, you’re right!”

He was quiet for a moment but he was getting red in the face and his cheeks puffed out more and more until he gave up.

“It’s hilarious!” Henry managed to get out between his deep guffaws.

“Come on… ” Bendy drummed his fingers on the floor where he and Alice had sort of piled themselves in a heap.

Joey patted Henry on the back. He was almost doubled over, hands over his stomach and didn’t seem to be getting enough air. Joey regarded his two creations who were now half-heartedly pushing at each other's faces but without any hope of actually separating themselves.

“Maybe Wally has something that can dissolve that mess?” Joey suggested.

Henry took several deep, shaky breaths.

“Hey, Joey… you wanted them to get along, right?” Henry said, voice barely under control.

“I did… “

“The way I see it, this is some quality bonding time.”

Bendy tried to get off the floor to stand up straight which was difficult since Alice didn’t feel very cooperative.

“Joey, if you leave us like this, I’m going to make your life very difficult. You know I can do it!”

Henry started to push Joey out the room.

“Are you sure we should just leave them like this?” Joey kept glancing over his shoulder.

“They’ll figure something out. Let’s grab some dinner, it’s on me.”

Joey thought about it for a beat.

“Can we go to that burger place?” he asked. “The one on the corner?”

“Anything you want, pal, so long it’s not bacon soup.”

Henry looked over at the toons one last time, his lip twitching.

“Have fun you two. And thanks, I think I really needed this.”

“Henry! HENRY!” Bendy tried to follow them but his feet stuck to the floor ending up with him falling forward and Alice tripping over him.

“HENRY! JOEY! GET BACK HERE! You’ve been hanging around Sammy too much, he’s a bad influence!”

“Well, shoot”, Alice said and put the halo back on top of her head.

“Hey, guys.”

Both of the toons on the floor stilled and looked over to the door where Boris was still standing. They both sighed with relief in unison.

“Boris! Sweet, beautiful Boris. We got it all wrong. You’re the one sent from above!” Bendy said, putting his hands together joyfully. “You’ve got to help us out here, pal.”

“I’m really happy you started to get along”, Boris said, smiling without a hint of maliciousness.

“Boris, we’re not-”

“Buddy, I see where you’re going with this and-”

“My two best friends, having fun together. Don’t let me get in the way of your bonding time.”

He put extra emphasis on _bonding_ and looked ready to tear up a bit. Bendy and Alice stared in horror as he moved towards the door.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it”, Boris said before closing the door as best he could with the busted door handle.

They could hear him whistling happily as he walked away.

Bendy glared at Alice.

“This is all your fault, you know", he said.

“Oh, put a cork in it."

Alice reached for the last unopened bottle of ink, took a swig from it before handing it over to Bendy.


End file.
